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alt attribute (area, img, object, ...)

Browser support:

Sets an alternate text that is displayed when the file associated with the element cannot be displayed.

For example, when the src attribute of an image element refers to a file that is not available, the alternate text is displayed.

Note that in Internet Explorer, if the title attribute is not specified, the alternate text is also displayed as a tooltip regardless of whether the file associated with the element can be displayed. In other browsers, the alt attribute does not specifies a tooltip only an alternate text.

If you want set a tooltip for an element, use the title attribute instead.

JavaScript page for this attribute: alt. You can find other example(s) there.

Possible values:

String that sets the alternate text.

Default: this attribute has no default value.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the alt attribute:

See this image:
<div style="color:red">
    <img src="notexisting.gif" alt="Sorry, the image is not available!" />
</div>

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Example HTML code 2:

This example illustrates the use of both the alt and title attributes:

<div style="color:red">
    <img src="notexisting.gif" alt="Sorry, the image is not available!" title="This is my first image" />
    <br /><br />
    <img src="picture.gif" alt="Sorry, the image is not available!" title="This is my last image" />
</div>
<br /><br />
Move the mouse pointer over the images to see the tooltips!